Polish Minister Who Saved Jews During WWII Buried

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, a former Polish foreign minister, also saved countless Jews during the Holocaust, before finding himself a prisoner in Auschwitz concentration camp. Bartoszewski passed away recently at the age of 93, The Times of Israel reports, and was laid to rest this week, remembered as one of the Righteous Among the Nations:

A member of underground World War II resistance, Bartoszewski helped save Jews and was honored by Israel with the title of the Righteous Among Nations. He was later persecuted under communism for his democratic views. He served twice as democratic Poland’s foreign minister.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein marked Bartoszewski’s death on Monday, calling it “a huge loss, not only to Poland and the State of Israel, but to humanity, which lost a moral voice that didn’t hesitate to speak out, even at a heavy personal cost.”

“The Israeli Knesset bows its head in appreciation and deep gratitude,” Edelstein said in the plenum...

“He was 100 percent a decent person and at the same time followed his common sense,” said Tusk, Poland’s former prime minister in whose government Bartoszewski was charged with foreign dialogue from 2007-2014.

“He used to say that his biography of an Auschwitz prisoner and a Righteous Among Nations gave him the right to tell (Poland’s) partners all that he considered important. And he said it. And he inspired respect,” Tusk said, adding that Bartoszewski was also a joyful person.

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